This is somewhat of a tangent for this blog, but I like the perspective this article brings.
New Year’s Resignation

After a man is convinced that he can be filled with the Spirit he must desire to be. To the interested inquirer I ask these question: Are you sure that you want to be possessed by a Spirit Who, while He is pure and gentle and wise and loving, will yet insist upon being Lord of your life? Are you sure you want your personality to be taken over by One Who will require obedience to the written Word? Who will not tolerate any of the self-sins in your life: self-love, self-indulgence? Who will not permit you to strut or boast or show off? Who will take the direction of your life away from you and will reserve the sovereign right to test you and discipline you? Who will strip away from you many loved objects which secretly harm your soul?

Unless you can answer an eager ‘Yes’ to these questions you do not want to be filled.

How many authors are willing to say this nowadays? (Tozer wrote this in 1957.) Paul preached Christ crucified to the Corinthians which was foolishness to them. Jesus asks us to count the cost. He turned away the rich ruler (Luke 18:18-27). How many of us try to make it easy for others to be saved only for them to fall away because they didn’t count the cost?

Grace has become… cheap. We are busy these days proving to the world that they can have all the benefits of the Gospel without any of the inconvenience to their customary way of life. It’s ‘all this and heaven too.’

So often when a Christian is faced with a problematic situation, he is told to ask himself, ‘What would Jesus do in this situation?’ That is not always a wise question to ask. A better question would be, ‘What would Jesus have me do in this situation?’

(This book was written before the What Would Jesus Do? fad.)

Titus 3:1-2
Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

Pitchford’s Ramblings has a good, concise article on the Biblical basis for the Doctrine of the Trinity:
Treasuring the Trinity

Those of you who are into books may find these lists interesting:

Westminster Bookstore Top Ten Books of 2007

Favorite Books I Read In 2007…What About You? – Tullian Tchividjian

My Top 7 Books of 2007 – Challies.com

Top Books of 2007 at adoption-through-propitiation (what a great blog name)
Scroll down on that page to find more lists.

Update:
Best Christian Books of 2007
Scroll down on that page to find more lists.

For what’s it’s worth, my top five books:

1. The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine by A.W. Tozer
2. Knowing God by J.I. Packer
3. The Lord by Romano Guardini
4. The Gospel According to Job: An Honest Look at Pain and Doubt from the Life of One Who Lost Everything by Mike Mason
5. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Favorite books I read in 2007 (not written in 2007):

1. Cries of The Heart by Ravi Zacharias
2. Romans (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) by Thomas Schreiner
3. 1 Corinthians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) by David Garland
4. 2 Corinthians (New American Commentary) by David Garland
5. God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer by Pete Grieg
6. The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life by A.W. Tozer

Books to read in 2008:

1. Polishing God’s Monuments: Pillars of Hope for Punishing Times by Jim Andrews
2. Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges
3. Suffering and the Sovereignty of God by John Piper et. all
4. Praying Backwards: Transform Your Prayer Life by Beginning in Jesus Name by Bryan Chapell
5. I Will Follow You, O God: Embracing Him as Lord in Your Private Worship by Jerry Bridges
6. Living the Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing by C.J. Mahaney
7. Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 41, Galatians by Richard N. Longenecker
8. The Letter to the Ephesians (Pillar New Testament Commentary) by Peter O’Brien
9. Colossians & Philemon by R.C. Lucas
10. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (New International Commentary on the New Testament) by Gordon Fee

Stinkers:

1. Abandonment to divine providence – Jean Pierre de Caussade
2. The Release of the Spirit by Watchman Nee
3. Prayer by Richard Foster

As a tangent, I’ve become interested in reading more about the (negatively stereotyped) Puritans like Richard Baxter, John Owen etc. If you’re interested here is a post to get you started:
Puritans, We Greet Thee in 2008
Updated Link:
Join the 2008 Puritan Reading Challenge!

If there are other lists out there or if you have your own, please post them here.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 12:8-9
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Three times he pleaded for his affliction to be taken away. This is reminiscent of Jesus praying three times in Gethsemane. “So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.” (Matthew 26:44) “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39 b)

We can see that Jesus and Paul were persistent in prayer. Maybe there is significance in comparing the fact that Paul and Jesus both prayed three times but that isn’t a magic formula. Jesus may have prayed that same thing many times before that night. And Paul received a definite answer after three times.

The parables that illustrate persistence in prayer are the impudent friend in Luke 11:5-10 and the bothersome widow in Luke 18:1-8.

Both Jesus and Paul got an answer of “no” to one of their most fervent prayers. This should give us comfort when we and our loved ones don’t get what we wish.

But by no means is that the end of it. God accomplished in Paul and Jesus much more after an answer of “no” than anyone would imagine. God is good (Nahum 1:7) and His will is perfect (Romans 12:2).

Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,” I never thought that this could apply to the answer of “no” until now.

As far as our prayers go, in his commentary on 2 Corinthians Garland says, “Calvin explains that there are two kinds of answers to prayer:

We ask without qualification for those things about which we have sure promise, such as the perfecting of God’s kingdom and the hallowing of His name, the forgiveness of sins and everything profitable* to us. But when we imagine that God’s kingdom can and indeed must be furthered in such and such a way, or that this or that is necessary for the hallowing of His name, we are often mistaken, just as, in the same way, we are often deluded as to what in fact tends to our own welfare.

We can ask with full confidence for what is certainly promised to us, but ‘we cannot prescribe the means.’ God may grant the end that we ask for in prayer, but God may use a means that we do not desire.”

*I’m guessing his definition of “profitable” may be different than what we may think.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 11:30-32
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, 33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.

What do verses 32-33 have to do with 30-31? The translators didn’t put a paragraph break there. Is this an example of Paul’s supposedly helter-skelter writing? For some it may be obvious or you’ve already come to understand it one way or another but for me and others I’d like to write about it.

I’d like to gather some points by Garland from his commentary on 2 Corinthians and a thought or two of my own.

Garland mentions that 11:30-12:10 are the demonstrations of his weakness.

It may seem abrupt to us because he switches from comparisons with the “super apostles” and his catalog of hardships and switches to this subject.

11:32-33 is a narrative event in contrast to the listing of his sufferings. But it’s not just a narrative of a historical event in his ministry. It’s an example of weakness. Garland says, “Hiding in a basket is not something that someone with power would do, and the incident occurs at the very beginning of his ministry. It serves a a paradigm, as it were, for what was to come.” Imagine how you would feel hiding in a basket in fear of your life. (Acts 9:25)

In contrast, according to Aulus Gellius, “the special distinction of a mural crown belonged to the man who had been first to climb the wall.” (Attic Nights 5.6.16) Garland says, “The ‘wall crown’ (corona muralis), one of the highest Roman military honors, was presented to the first soldier to go up and over the wall of an enemy city.” This would not have been lost on the Corinthians. Yet again Paul is emphasizing suffering and weakness to get the message of the cross through to the Corinthians.

This reminds me of the indoor artificial climbing walls. If you climb to the top you’ve succeeded. You made it up with your own skill and under your own strength. Yay! If you slip or lose your strength then the dreaded rope catches you and you are lowered back down in defeat. It’s all in fun if not taken too seriously but it may serve as an example of the contrast.

Garland says, “We should not overlook, however, that Paul’s escape parallels similar escapes in the Bible. The Israelite spies were hidden by Rahab the prostitute and let down by a rope through a window in the wall (Joshua 2:15), and David escaped Saul’s soldiers with the help of Michal, who let him down through the window (1 Samuel 19:12). The biblical parallels show a pattern in which an ignoble escape on one day led to victory on another (Joshua 6:1-25; 1 Samuel 23:1-14).”

These aren’t “woe is me” types of statements, they are a testament to God’s power and strength in weakness and humiliation. If it wasn’t for God’s power, Paul certainly would never have made it through the litany of near-death experiences to bring the gospel so powerfully and genuinely to the Corinthians. That’s partly why he says in 2 Corinthians 4:12, “So death is at work in us, but life in you.”

If you approach the Scriptures with all humility and with regulated caution, you will perceive that you have been breathed upon by the Holy Will. It will bring about a transformation which is impossible to describe. You will perceive the delights of the Blessed Bridegroom; you will see the riches of Solomon. The hidden treasures of eternal wisdom will be yours. Yet I would caution you. The entrance to this abode of wisdom is narrow. The doorway is low, and there is danger in not stooping when you enter.

–Erasmus, The Handbook of the Militant Christian

Thanks to:
http://englishbibles.blogspot.com/2007/11/hen-scratches-23-11-07.html

Disclaimer: I’ve not read much of Erasmus, but I love this quote.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

What exactly does “poor” mean here? At first glance it would seem that He became poor in a material sense. But logically this would seem to imply that he became poor so that we could become materially rich. This wouldn’t make sense unless you like TV evangelists with big hair.

We don’t even know if in fact He was materially poor. He said he didn’t have a place to lay his head in Matthew 8:20 but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s poor in that sense.

Garland says in his commentary on 2 Corinthians that, “Becoming poor refers to his ‘emptying himself’ (Phil 2:6 *; see also Rom 15:3; Heb 12:2) and suggests that this is something he did voluntarily. But how does this make us rich? Christ’s incarnation [embodied in flesh] climaxed in his death, and the principle of interchange–he became poor; we became rich–is the same as in 2 Corinthians 5:21: ‘Jesus gave up his righteousness (becoming ’sin’) in order that believers might become the “righteousness of God.”‘” (Sorry for all those quotation marks.)

Garland quotes C. Lapide:

Christ was made poor that we through His poverty might be rich. He took the form of a servant that we might regain liberty. He descended that we might be exalted. He was tempted that we might overcome. He was despised that He might fill use with glory. He died that we might be saved. He ascended, to draw to Himself those lying prostrate on the ground through sin’s stumblingblock.

*The word “exploited” makes much more sense to me:
Philippians 2:6 NRSV who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,

From The Blazing Center blog:
8 Ways to Get More out of Your Bible
and
Bible Boost Part II

Be sure to read the comments too.

Many Christians have lost or never learned a sound doctrine of regeneration. They believe that the only thing that matters is their standing with God or with the church. They assume that a past decision for Christ or a decision to affiliate with a congregation determines their standing with God. Having made that decision, they make no effort to allow the Spirit to renew them. The Spirit is not imposed upon us, and Christians must engage in spiritual disciplines that make the Spirit’s work possible in changing our lives at the fundamental level. God’s Spirit empowers us to do what we want to do and makes what we want to do to be what is right so that Christlikeness flows from us naturally.

–David Garland, 2 Corinthians

Related Scripture:
Philippians 2:12-13, 2 Peter 1:3-10

Here is one of the best articles I’ve seen regarding the benefits of memorizing Scripture and why it’s so essential to the Christian life:
Why Memorize Scripture? by John Piper

A related post on this blog:
Knowing Scripture

I didn’t realize I was listed on this site until recently. I’m honored. If you’re interested in finding other Bible blogs this may be the most complete list out there:
A Map of the World of Bible Bloggers

The book In Christ Alone: Reflections on the Heart of the Gospel by Sinclair B. Ferguson has a chapter called Santa Christ. You will find the whole chapter and two others within the sample PDF file:
http://www.wtsbooks.com/pdf_files/9781567690897.pdf (1 MB)

I have included an excerpt here:

The Scriptures systematically strip away the veneer that covers the real truth of the Christmas story. Jesus did not come to add to our comforts. He did not come to help those who were already helping themselves or to fill life with more pleasant experiences. He came on a deliverance mission, to save sinners, and to do so He had to destroy the works of the Devil (Matt. 1:21; 1 John 3:8 b).

Those whose lives were bound up with the events of the first Christmas did not find His coming an easy and pleasurable experience.

Mary and Joseph’s lives were turned upside down.

The shepherds’ night was frighteningly interrupted, and their futures
potentially radically changed.

The magi faced all kinds of inconvenience and family separation.

Our Lord Himself, conceived before wedlock, born probably in a cave, would spend His early days as a refugee from the bloodthirsty and vindictive Herod (Matt. 2:13-21).

There is, therefore, an element in the Gospel narratives that stresses that the coming of Jesus is a disturbing event of the deepest proportions. It had to be thus, for He did not come merely to add something extra to life, but to deal with our spiritual insolvency and the debt of our sin. He was not conceived in the womb of Mary for those who have done their best, but for those who know that their best is “like filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6)—far from good enough—and that in their flesh there dwells no good thing (Rom. 7:18). He was not sent to be the source of good experiences, but to suffer the pangs of hell in order to be our Savior.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

In his commentary on 2 Corinthians Garland says, “He understands that through his suffering he shared Christ’s death and received new life (Philippians 3:10-11). Savage* captures Paul’s thought:

It is precisely because his outer man is decaying that his inner man is being revewed day by day (v. 16). His outer afflictions serve to multiply the glory of his inner man (v. 17). His critics fail to see this increasing weight of glory because it is accumulating in his heart (v. 6), a place hidden to their externally minded outlook.

Most cannot see this transformation because they only look at the outer surface of humans. From this vantage point, it looks like Paul is falling apart instead of being gloriously renewed. Caird** explains this process well and why God designed it so:

But it is a secret process, invisible both to the outsider and to the believer himself, known only to faith. To protect that faith from the encroachments of pride, which would turn spiritual renewal into a human achievement instead of accepting it as a gift of grace, God has provided that the process be concealed within an ‘earthenware vessel,’ a perishable body subject to pain and decay (2 Corinthians 4:7; cp. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9). Those whose eyes are not on the seen and transient, but on the unseen and eternal, can detect beneath the decay of the outer nature an inner life which is being daily renewed.

*Savage, Power through Weakness, 183.
**G.B. Caird, Paul’s Letters from Prison, New Clarendon Bible (Oxford: Clarendon, 1976)

Two things strike me.

One is how similar the Church is in the U.S. compared to the Corinthians and how we look at the “outer man” to determine how well they are doing spiritually. This can refer to outward appearance or outward actions. We judge people by how healthy they appear. If someone is afflicted we ask why this is. Do they lack faith? Are they doing something wrong? Why isn’t God blessing them? And yet the Bible speaks out against this time and again. (John 9:2-3)

The other is how He uses uses earthen vessels who can be hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted and struck down so that we cannot rely on ourselves and be able to say that we are being renewed because of our own efforts.

Although our afflictions can seem unbearable, the “weight of glory” will be so great in heaven that it is incomparable to our earthly suffering. Since we cannot imagine this now, we must believe this by faith. (see also Romans 8:18)

2 Corinthians

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In his commentary on 2 Corinthians Garland points out “a series of contrasts between the present affliction and the eternal glory that follows” in 4:16-5:9.

outward man / inner man
wasting away / being renewed
slight / beyond measure
momentary / eternal
affliction / glory
what can be seen / what cannot be seen
tentlike house / building from God
earthly / heavenly
destroyed / eternal
stripped naked / clothed
mortality / life
preparation, the guarantee of the Holy Spirit / not yet
sight / faith
at home in the body / away from the Lord

I would like to try to highlight these things within the passage. The specific colors have no meaning. They are just alternated to show the pairs hopefully without too much confusion.

2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10 (NIV)
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

2 Corinthians

I’ve never fully grasped this verse as I have it memorized in the NIV:
2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

In 2 Corinthians 3:6-18 Paul gives a commentary on Exodus 32-34. While the face of Moses needed to be veiled to protect the people from the overpowering radiance of His glory, we are able to to see the glory of God through the gospel of Jesus without the need of a veil. The word reflect can also be translated as behold or contemplate. We become like the one we look at. God’s image can be seen through Christ (John 14:9). Instead of looking through a veil, we are able to see clearly as though looking at a mirror.

2 Corinthians

On the surface, Paul can appear to be brash, defensive and prideful in his letters.

While he does rebuke the Corinthians for egregious sins and misconstruing the gospel message, he is actually very tactful in the way he goes about it when reading his letters as a whole. He starts his letters with thanksgiving for them and the gifts they have. He talks about how much he loves them and how they are fellow workers and brothers and sisters in Christ. He rebukes or admonishes them and then encourages them. He is often very concerned and even anxious of how stern his letters may seem. (2 Corinthians 2:4)

As mentioned in previous posts, Paul is defending the use of God’s power through Paul’s weakness, contrary to what the Corinthians thought a minister of Christ should be. Garland says, “The Corinthians have therefore failed to see God’s power at work in Paul’s suffering, which suggests that they have failed to grasp the full meaning of the cross.”

Paul uses the word commend often in 2 Corinthians. We may understand this word to mean boasting.

2 Corinthians 3:1
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?

2 Corinthians 4:2
But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

2 Corinthians 6:4
but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,

Garland says, “‘Commendation’ needs to be understood in the context of friendship and recommendation in the ancient world. Paul does not use self-commendation in a negative sense to mean self-applause. Marshall* shows that it refers to a recognized way of establishing friendships:

…self-commendation was an accepted and common convention which differs little from written commendation by third parties. praise or complimentary phraseology is a traditional though not essential element of both third party and self-commendation and was acceptable if done inoffensively; even extravagant praise by a recommender was acceptable, especially if the recommended proved himself to be worthy of it.

Self-commendation is therefore equivalent to self-introduction.”

Just to touch on boasting–this is also not always negative if it is boasting in the Lord. This was established in the Old Testament:
Jeremiah 9:24
“but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”

For me, these things help me to understand Paul and his letters much differently.

*Marshall, Enmity in Corinth, 266-67